Training
by cougarlips
Summary: "Fire, Axel found, was graceful yet desperate, quick to consume but slow to die, thriving with each new target it found and devouring it completely." Oneshot. Third person POV. Lea/Axel centric. Axel/Roxas written platonic, but can be read as romantic. KH3 wishlist fic.
**a/n** : i took down a lot of my kh fanfiction because there was just no response from the fandom, but in talking to a friend about it i decided to reupload some of my oneshots and fav pieces. this is one that i wrote three different versions of before i found a start i liked, but none of them have a solid conclusion.

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As a member of the organization, there was a weekly quota of training everyone must complete. It was up to each member to decide where and how to train, whether to train in physical or magical combat, to train with a weapon or to train with an element, to pair up or train alone, to use dummies or not. All they had to do was fill up thirty hours of train time weekly.

Some members opted to train with weapons. Xigbar manipulated dummies to teleport around the balcony of The Castle That Never Was and used them as target practice. Larxene used Dusks as her targets and threw her knives at them while simultaneously raining spells, sometimes imbuing her knives with lightning for an extra punch. Zexion created illusions of his enemies and used magic to tear them down. Marluxia littered his balcony with mannequins and sliced them into smithereens with his scythe.

Other members trained with their given elemental powers. Demyx created water clones and surrounded enemy illusions created by Zexion, crafted tsunamis in his assigned practice room, used his sitar to weave clones in between the training of other members to increase the difficulty. Xaldin manipulated the air around his enemies to engulf and suspend them, encouraging wind storms and, sometimes, teamed with Demyx and Larxene to create hurricanes.

As soon as Axel began training with fire, the entire organization knew. Even through leather gloves, bloody smudges made their way wherever Axel laid his fingers, and he stopped wearing his cloak around the castle when his arms were so streaked with the licks of burns that even the lightest, feather-weight pressure hurt him to the core. No warming cast of Curaga healed the sores; no potion, no matter how expensive or heady, relieved him of the pain that came with the magical flames that ate him alive.

It was precisely why he needed to train, Larxene chided him. Her element, lightning, was a distant cousin of his own. She once walked in on him attempting to heal his skin and proceeded to remove her gloves, lift her sleeves, and show Axel the Lichtenberg figures beginning at her fingertips and branching inwards, up her arms, before disappearing underneath the heavy leather of their coats. She told him to fight the fire itself, to master the element, until it couldn't hurt him anymore, and only then would he be able to shield himself from the heat.

Fire, Axel found, was graceful yet desperate, quick to consume but slow to die, thriving with each new target it found and devouring it completely. It was fast and sure, unwavering and unyielding. It was with this in mind that Axel trained, moving with the fire in an unending dance around each target.

After Roxas joined the organization, the two began training together: Axel taught the boy how to command the flames he too could wield, but more often Axel would conjure fiery clones for Roxas to attack while he danced with his fire around him. Sometimes, on days off, the two would dance the fire dance with each other just to get a feeling for the element.

When Lea began keyblade training, he spent as much time training with his new weapon as he did his chosen element. Though he could spar with Sora, Riku, and Kairi, he chose to practice alone. He trained as the sun rose, allowing the sunlight to heat his skin in preparation for the fire that would soon run through his veins, and he manipulated clones to teleport with the help of Braig.

Only once did Lea spar with Sora. He begged Lea for weeks before finally getting a grunt of agreement, and so he woke up at daybreak with Riku and Kairi to train with him.

Lea fought Sora several times before as Axel, but now they fought as allies, fought together, and the atmosphere was drastically changed from their prior battles. Lea laughed and began dancing with Sora as if out of habit. He leaped over the flames and toed around the fire, creating clones because I've done this with you before, and for a second when he looked at Sora he saw a blonde boy in a heavy black coat grinning at him from through the flames.

Lea forgot everything he'd taught himself about the fire and froze, but as the flames licked his skin, as the searing heat ate him alive like the flames always do when they reach a target, he was unable to dismiss the fire. Riku, catching on almost immediately, dismissed them himself before Lea burnt to a crisp while Kairi leapt into action and began casting healing spells, pulling potion after potion out as Lea crumpled in pain to the sand.

Sora shook himself free of Roxas's pull, dropping to Lea's side as he watched Riku rip off the singed shirt Lea wore, gasping when he saw the years-old burns covering his skin. Inside his head, he could feel Roxas – Sora fought the liquid coming to his eyes but the helpless feeling was one both he and Roxas then shared.

"I'm fine," Lea grunted, shouldering himself up and then looking pointedly at the sea, his jaw set. To Sora, Riku, and Kairi's shock he stood and reached for the sweater he brought with him, wincing only slightly as he put it on, and limped away.


End file.
